Tinder’s New Algorithm Change Helps Users Match More Often

Ostersund, Sweden - May 23, 2016: Tinder is a location-based dating and social discovery service application. (IB Photography / Shutterstock.com)

Dating app, Tinder, has recently changed their matchmaking algorithm to help more users find more matches.

Tinder is a mobile dating app that helps connect mutually interested users. The app is commonly used as a dating services app and was launched in 2012. By 2014, the website was registering about a billion “swipes” per day. But, in order to stay competitive in the dating market, Tinder has introduced a new algorithm to make it easier for a user’s profile to stand out among the million users on the platform.

The new algorithm is called Smart Photos and works by reorganizing the user’s pictures so that their “best” photo is seen first by other Tinder users. Tinder does this by tracking which of the user’s photos get the most swipes, and then automatically placing that photo first. So far, users who have Smart Photos enabled get 12% more matches, than users do not have the feature enabled.

“We’re working our magic to make swiping more fun and more effective. Tinder’s Smart Photos feature is designed to bring you more matches, but it’s also a great way to see which way of presenting yourself is the most compelling to others,” the company said in a statement.

Algorithms are utilizing user’s data in order to provide more accurate and detailed information. Studies have shown that if a photo shows someone in a group picture, wearing a hat or sunglasses, or even not smiling, then those users are less likely to match, according to Tinder.

While this new algorithm change may be working for Tinder users, Facebook’s Trending News algorithm is causing problems for the social media company. Recently, Facebook algorithms pushed a fake Megyn Kelly story about Fox News having fired her for supporting Hillary Clinton, even though the news organization had not. In addition, a news story from the satire site Faking News also climbed the Trending Stories feature after getting picked up by Facebook’s algorithm. This occurred after Facebooked removed any human intervention in the news stories process saying, “A more algorithmically driven process allows us to scale Trending to cover more topics and make it available to more people globally over time.” But, this has led to several trending stories that were not true.

With a background in biology, chemistry, and psychology, Megan’s favorite stories highlight how science influences and enhances individuals’ lives. She worked in a research laboratory studying genetic diseases. Megan also has a working knowledge of the science community and scientific advances in technology.